What I learned in Matthew Finlason's Advanced Home Staging Training - YES! Even I still learn new stuff!

There is so much to share about what I learned from Matthew Finlason in his Advanced Home Staging Training course. While much of what he had to share I already do, what I really learned were some key differentiations. I've focused on staging for demographics, buyer demographics and psychographics for years now. I have all kinds of aesthetic shots in my marketing and have even taught webinars on portfolio photography.

I've been in business for 6 years now and run a very successful company. Still I have much to learn. I don't necessarily measure upgrades in my education by learning completely new skills, but rather on creating slight differences that can radically improve my marketing ability, language, and business skill sets. I've been working with Matthew for months on helping direct, edit and pull this class together into an incredible value for the staging industry. Perhaps what I didn't expect is that as I sat in on the first class, held in New Jersey a few weeks ago, that I would still manage to pick up tidbits of value and direct upgrades to my current techniques. Personally, I learned enough that if I had really been a student in the class that I would have felt my money was well spent - and I had already edited both the power point and manual as well as spending dozens of hours with Matthew on Skype working on the project.

While I can't really elaborate too much on the things I learned, I thought it might be interesting to share one of the little moments of clarity - an Ah Ha! moment, if you will. Many of you have seen my close up shots that I always use to showcase my staging work, as opposed to the standard full room shot that we use for agents. To the right is an example of one of them.

It's an OK photograph. Honestly it's not one of my favorites, but it actually does appear in my portfolio. I have dozens of these shots. I try to take at least 4-10 in every home I stage. I've been of the opinion that clients always want to know WHAT we are putting in their homes, not just how the end results turn out. They want to see what we use that will appeal to the right buyer.

Enter Matthew Finlason's new Advanced Staging techniques. Matthew spends a fair amount of time explaining clearly about demographics and psychographics. He helps you hone in your research and then pulls it all together by teaching about optimal and alternative floorplans and creating a company aesthetic (or many of them - so you have a portfolio ready for each type of property or client that you stage for). He talks about exactly HOW he creates some of the photography that creates so much emotion in his portfolio.

Today I needed to swap out some bar stools for a home that team member David Moon was working on. Neither of us were particularly happy with how they looked, even though we both agreed that they would work in the house originally. Sometimes this happens. What's important is that you fix it if you don't love it. Since I was in the house & taking photos of the swap out, I thought I would take a moment and try out some of these techniques. Now I'm not a photography genius. I don't own an expensive camera. As a matter of fact, I'm kind of embarrased to say that I still photograph my staging jobs with a coolpix point and shoot camera. I'm telling you this because I want you to know that you can still have great photographs, even if you don't have an expensive camera. You can still learn these techniques!

What I love about this particular photo is the fact that the background is out of focus and the details in the actual staging props are clear. You are focused on one specific thing, not the entire grouping. To me, this made the photo far richer. Why did I not think of this in all of the years that I've been doing these photos?

Here's another one. It was a simple bowl of cherries on a table. It's just in front of a window that has an amazing marsh view. Is this about the house? Not at all. Does it create an emotion about our staging? Yes, I think it does!

Even this simple photograph of a napkin & ring on the dining table (yes, we set them here in Charleston - it's a town built on entertaining) is far more alive and interesting than the shot of the tulips above.

So the big question is, "How does this help my business?" Better photographs, ones that create more emotion and show off our actual work, help us get more clients. Not only that, but we can command higher prices than our competition because we come across as more professional & cutting edge. You aren't hiring "just" another home stager. You are hiring someone who is concerned with every aspect of the staging job. You are hiring someone who understands your buyer and will play up their stage with the right pieces to draw them in.

For more information on buying or selling in the St Augustine, St Johns, Jacksonville, or Ponte Vedra area, visit StageListSellNEFL.com or call Melissa Marro (marro.melissa at gmail.com), Watson Realty, for more information (904-466-2093).

Melissa - Love your photos - those all important emotional connection points and will definitely look into Matthew Finason's Advanced Home Staging Training - after all - I plan on always remaining teachable!

Thanks for sharing this very useful information, Melissa. I sometimes do take vignette photos, but usually I'm in such a hurry, I don't take the time to photograph. I'll pay more attention to this in the future.

I love this photography and although I don't always get a lot of "after" shots because I have been doing mostly consults lately, I always try to get a few of this type when I can. Funny, I had to take a second look at your cherries, I thought they were apples, LOL!

Hi Melissa - I skimmed this post yesterday - I was rushing out to stage a tired, west coast contemporary home. When I was taking after photos (with my Nikon Coolpix!), I thought I'd try Matthew's photo technique that you described. I'm not sure if I was successful - maybe I need to be even closer, but here it is. Thank you! I'll keep practicing, and keep my fingers crossed that Matthew comes to Seattle at some point.

(I really do wish the AR gods would see fit to make this site ipad compatible!)

Thank you all for your wonderful comments and thank you Kathy & Sally for also including some of your photos! Last night he gave me another tip, so I'll be trying a little more editing with some of the photos above too!

This was a huge takeaway for me Melissa from Matt's class and I'm going to be utilizing this in my updated website. I think he's spot on with the emotions it creates in the minds of our clients (and ourselves) I know I am drawn more to a photo that tells a story than one that leaves me with nothing to imagine.

Melissa-This is a great post. They say that "God is in the details" and these pictures show that. I am going to pay more attention to how I photograph pictures and make sure that I spend time on taking some pictures that evoke an emotion. I agree that this is the kind of artistic and interesting visual marketing that will set us apart. Thanks for getting me to think outside of the box on this! Here is one of my favorite staging pictures! The look we were going for was"upscale beach chic".I think that I will try to zero in even more next time!

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